Comments

Revised Common Lectionary Commentary

Clippings:
Second Sunday of Advent - December 9, 2018

Saint Dominiccontemplating the Scriptures

Author's note:Sometimes I have material left over when I edit Comments down to
fit the available space. This page presents notes that landed on the clipping
room floor. Some may be useful to you. While I avoid technical language
in the Comments (or explain special terms), Clippings may have unexplained
jargon from time to time.

A hypertext Glossary of Terms is integrated with Clippings. Simply
click on any highlighted word in the text and a pop-up window will appear
with a definition. Bibliographic references are also integrated in the
same way.

Baruch 5:1-9

We should not assume that the author is Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch. For
one thing, Jeremiah’s Baruch would not have made the errors of fact found in
the early chapters of the book. [
NOAB]

4:11-12 says: “With joy I nurtured them, but I sent them away with weeping
and sorrow. Let no one rejoice over me, a widow and bereaved of many; I was left
desolate because of the sins of my children, because they turned away from the law
of God.”

5:2: “diadem”: Exodus
28:36-37 speaks thus of Aaron’s diadem: “You shall make a rosette
of pure gold, and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, ‘Holy to the
Lord.’. You shall fasten it on
the turban with a blue cord; it shall be on the front of the turban.”. It is
similarly described in Exodus
39:30-31. See also Wisdom of Solomon
18:24. The word in Greek is mitra. [
NJBC] It symbolizes the regal splendour of the priest: see Ezekiel
21:26 and Zechariah
3:5.

5:4: “Righteous Peace”: Isaiah
32:17 tells us that “The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the
result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever”. [
NOAB] For other names of the new Jerusalem, see Isaiah
1:26 (“the city of righteousness, the faithful city”); Jeremiah 33:16
(“The Lord is our righteousness”);
Ezekiel 48:35 (“The Lord is There”).
[JBC]

5:6: Isaiah
49:22 says: “Thus says the Lord
God: I will soon lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the
peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall
be carried on their shoulders” and Isaiah
66:20 says: “They shall bring all your kindred from all the nations as
an offering to the Lord, on horses,
and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain
Jerusalem, says the Lord”. [
NOAB]

5:7: Isaiah
42:16-17 says: “I will lead the blind by a road they do not know, by paths
they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into
light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I will do, and I
will not forsake them. They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame –
those who trust in carved images, who say to cast images, ‘You are our gods.’”.
[
NOAB]

5:9: “in the light of his glory”: See also
4:24. The author, a poet, uses the language of nature myth (i.e. the rising of
the sun in the east) to emphasize that however in fact the return of the exiles may
seem to work historically, it is God alone who is the real explanation of the return.
Only God controls the sun, and (from a more ancient view) can appear in it. Only
he can lead them home basking in its light. Isaiah
60:1-3 also speaks of God as the light of Israel: “Arise, shine; for your
light has come, and the glory of the Lord
has risen upon you”. See also Isaiah
58:8-9. [
NJBC]

Malachi 3:1-4

Habakkuk
1:2-4 says: “O Lord, how
long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you "Violence!" and
you will not save? Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction
and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack
and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous – therefore judgment
comes forth perverted.”. See also Habakkuk
1:13.

The author has attacked the priests of his day in
1:6-2:4, but he is favourable towards the institution of the priesthood (see
2:4-7) and insists that people honour their obligation to support the Temple
financially (see
3:6-12). [
NJBC]

Note that v.
1a is in the first person. Then vv.
1b-4 are in the third person. Then v.
5 is again in the first person. While there are several theories as to why the
person changes, none seem to be satisfactory explanations.

Verse 1a: This is applied to John the Baptizer by Jesus, in slightly modified
form, in Matthew
11:10: “This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending
my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you’”. See
also Mark
1:2. [
NJBC]

Verse 1: “messenger”: Hebrew: malaki. The book’s
name may be due to the use of this word in
1:1. Malaki is translated as angel in Genesis
16:7 (appears to Hagar);
22:11 (to Abraham); Exodus
3:2 (to Moses); Isaiah
63:9. [
NOAB]

Verse 1: “prepare the way”: Isaiah
40:3 says “A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way
of the Lord, make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.’” [
CAB]

Verse 1: “the Lord
”:
NJBC points out that the Hebrew is ha’adon rather than
Yahweh, the Israelite national name for God. Adon means lord, master,
owner, or controller. [
QVHG] Yahweh appears in vv.
4 and
5.

Verse 1: “covenant”: This is either the covenant at Sinai
or the covenant with Levi, the priestly tribe (mentioned in
2:4-5). [
NJBC] I favour the latter because v.
3 speaks of the purification of the ranks of the sons of Levi, thus ending the
abuses of the priesthood mentioned in
1:6-2:9.

Verse 2: “his coming”:. See also Isaiah
40:3 and Matthew
3:10-12 (“I [John the Baptiser] baptize you with water for repentance,
but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me ...”);
11:10-12; Mark
1:2; Luke
1:17,
76;
7:27. [
NOAB]

Verse 5: God will appear for judgement against the wicked and godless:
see also Zephaniah
1:14-18 (“... I will bring such distress upon people that they shall walk
like the blind; because they have sinned against the
Lord...”);
3:1-8; Mark
13:14-37 (the Little
Apocalypse); 2 Thessalonians
2:1-12. [
NOAB]

4:5 says “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible
day of the Lord comes”.

Luke 1:68-79

There are several
liturgical translations of this passage, including two in the
BAS – one metrical and one not.

NJBC says that Luke has adapted and joined together two Jewish Christian hymns
(vv.
68-75;
76-79).

Comments: The tense in Greek shows that they describe how God characteristically
acts and what he is inaugurating in Jesus: The tenses are
aorist, and are seen to be
gnomic and
inceptive. [
NJBC]

Verse 67: Just as Elizabeth spoke of the greatness of Jesus (in vv.
41-44), so too does Zechariah. [
NJBC]

Verse 68: “Blessed ...”: This imitates the style of hymns
of praise in Psalms
41:13;
72:18;
103:1;
106:48;
113:2; 1QH (*Qumran Hymns) 13:20; 18:14; 19:27-28. [
BlkLk] 1QH 13:20 (
Vermes 5:20) says: “... Be blessed Lord, because you did not desert the
orphan nor have you slighted the wretch.” 1QH 18:14 (Vermes 10:14) says: “Be
blessed, Lord, God of compassion and of abundant favour, because you have made me
know these things so that I may recount your marvels, and I do not keep silent day
and night.” 1QH 19:27-28 (Vermes 11:27-28) says: “... Be blessed Lord,
because you have given your servant the insight of knowledge to understand your wonders
and your deeds without number through the abundance of your favour.” [
Martinez]

Verse 68: “God of Israel”: The entire canticle stays within
the orbit of Judaism and God’s dealings with the elect people. [
NJBC]

Verse 68: “looked favourably”: The Greek word can also be
translated blessed: in the sense that God is present, and not in a neutral
way. See Exodus
3:16 (
Yahweh’s instructions to Moses after he identifies himself);
4:31 and Isaiah
10:12. [
JBC]

Verse 69: “a mighty saviour”:
BlkLk translates the Greek as a horn of salvation (a literal translation)
and notes the occurrence of this phrase in 2 Samuel
22:3 and Psalm
18:2 (although not in the NRSV), which he sees as the sources of this song. These
are the only places where this phrase occurs.

Verse 69: “David”: This fleshes out what Gabriel has said
in v.
32 (“... the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David”).
[
NJBC] See also Acts
4:25 (after the Council releases Peter and John).

Verse 71: “saved from our enemies”: Old Testament prophecies
that tell of salvation from enemies include Psalms
18:17 and
106:10. [
BlkLk] In
2:1-20, Jesus is pacific. God conquers enemies by bringing them peace.

Verse 73: “to ... Abraham”: In Genesis
17:7,
Yahweh renames Abram Abraham and promises: “I will establish my covenant
between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for
an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you”.
See also
26:24. [
BlkLk]

Verse 74: For a prophecy in similar language, see Jeremiah
30:8. From the 700s on, expectation of spiritual restoration included deliverance
from enemies and could hardly be distinguished from it. [
BlkLk]

Verse 76: “you will go before the Lord ...”: An echo of Gabriel’s
words in vv.
16-17. There is also an echo of Malachi
3:1: “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and
the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant
in whom you delight – indeed, he is coming, says the
Lord of hosts”. [
NJBC] See also Malachi
4:5 (the promise to send Elijah); Isaiah
40:3 and Luke
7:26. [
NOAB] [
BlkLk]

Verse 77: “by the forgiveness of their sins”: Jeremiah
31:34 had promised that knowledge of God, given via a new covenant of a new kind,
would be made possible by the forgiveness of sins. In Acts
5:31, Luke links the Kingdom with the forgiveness of sins. [
BlkLk]

Verse 78: See Malachi
4:2 (“the sun of righteousness shall rise”) and Ephesians
5:14. [
NOAB] A close parallel is to be found in *Tosefta Zebahim 9:8: this verse
incorporates two key words in v.
78, anatelei (arise) and eusplanchnia (mercy): “And after
these things the Lord himself will arise (anatelei) for you, the light of
righteousness, with healing and mercy (eusplanchnia) in his wings.”
[
NJBC]

Verse 78: “the dawn”: We are familiar with various names for
Jesus, but not this one. It seems that it did not catch on in the early Church.
NOAB offers another interpretation: “the dawn” will be when God fulfils
his purpose to bless mankind.
BlkLk offers he who has risen although he does comment on the contrast
between “dawn” and “darkness” (v.
79) and suggests that the author may have had Isaiah
42:7 (“to open the eyes that are blind, ... from the prison those who sit
in darkness”) and Isaiah
9:1-2 (“... The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined”)
in mind. It is possible that the Greek word is the one the
Septuagint translation uses for a Hebrew word meaning sprout or growth
and used of a future ruler descended from Jesse in Jeremiah
23:5 (“Branch”); Zechariah
3:8;
6:12.

Verse 1: I note that the salutation includes bishops and deacons but not
priests, so this letter predates the development of the office of priest as we know
it. In the secular Greek-speaking world, episcopos (bishop) denoted oversight
or administration and diakonos (deacon) had the sense of minister or
attendant. The diakonoi may have seen to the relief of the poor, though
Paul also views preaching as a diaconal ministry. While remote from the use of these
terms in the later church, their mention here marks the dawn of permanent ministry.
[
NJBC]

Verse 5: “sharing”: The word in the Greek is koinonia
. See also
1:7;
2:1;
3:10;
4:15. The Christians at Philippi have shared with Paul through their contributions
(
4:14-16) and by suffering for the gospel (
1:29-30). [
NJBC]

Verse 5: “first day”: Acts
16:12-40 tells of the conversion of the first Christians at Philippi. [
JBC]

Verse 6: See also 1 Corinthians
1:7 [
CAB] (although Paul may be indulging in irony).

Verse 6: “the day of Jesus Christ”: When his task of subduing
the world to God’s glory is complete (
3:21), Christ will come to hand over the Kingdom to the Father: see 1 Corinthians
15:24-28. [
NJBC] See also 1 Corinthians
1:8; 2 Thessalonians
2:3; 2 Peter
3:10; 1 Thessalonians
4:13-18.

Verse 7: “in my imprisonment”: Literally: in my bonds
. [
JBC] V.
13 makes clear that Paul is in prison for the faith, and not for a crime. Paul
being in chains is a special grace rather than an evil: see also 2 Corinthians
4:7-15;
6:3-10. The Christians at Philippi share in this grace not merely through their
concern and tangible support for Paul but also because as a community they have similarly
suffered for spreading the good news. [
NJBC]

Verse 11: “harvest of righteousness”: i.e. the
eschatological right-standing with God already granted to believers: see Romans
5:1. Christian ethical life is entirely the fruit of this new relationship. [
NJBC]

John is the inaugurator of the gospel’s new time of grace: God’s
gracious word will not allow human perversity the last word in salvation history.

Comments: classical Greek authors: Three Old Testament books are
set in history by references to rulers (see Isaiah
1:1; Jeremiah
1:3 and Hosea
1:1), but
JBC considers Luke’s style to be closer to that of classical Greek authors,
such as Thucydides.

Verse 1: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius”:
Tiberius ruled jointly, and then alone from 14-27 AD. Two methods of counting years
were used. Per the Roman method, Jesus began his ministry between 28 and 29 AD and
per the Syrian method, between 27 and 28 AD. (The Syrian method counted an initial
partial year as a whole year.) [
JBC]

Verse 1: “Herod ... Philip”: When Herod the Great died, his
kingdom was divided. His sons then ruled parts of it: Herod Antipas ruled Galilee
from 4 BC to 39 AD [
JBC] and Philip ruled “Ituraea and Trachonitis”, both north and east
of the Sea of Galilee. Luke says much about Herod Antipas, none of it good: see
3:19;
9:7,
9;
13:31;
23:7-15; Acts
4:27. “Abilene” was west of Damascus.

Verse 2: “Annas ... Caiaphas”: The Roman authorities influenced
the choice of high priest. Annas was high priest 6-15 AD; Caiaphas (see also Matthew
26:3 and John
11:49) held this office 18-37 AD. For this “high-priestly family”,
see Acts
4:6. In
20:5, the high priests reject John’s baptism. Their response to Jesus is
even more hostile: see
9:22;
19:47;
20:1-2,
19;
22:2,
4,
52,
66;
23:4,
10,
13-14;
24:20.

Verse 2: “the word of God came ...”: The words used in the
Septuagint translation of Jeremiah
1:1 are identical. Luke’s first readers would have recognized the phrase.
John resembled Old Testament prophets: see Matthew
3:4; 2 Kings
1:8 (Elijah); Zechariah
13:4. The parallels Luke draws between Jeremiah and John are:

Verse 2: “wilderness”:
Various groups, including the
Qumran community, expressed their unhappiness with the Jewish religious authorities
by moving out into the wild country around Jerusalem. Members of the Qumran community
applied Isaiah
40:3 (quoted in v.
4) to themselves, as they prepared the Lord’s way by living in the desert
and by separating themselves from outsiders (1QS (Rule of the Community) 8:13-14).
It is interesting that the proportions of the ruins at Qumran are the same as those
of the Temple; they saw themselves as the true Judaism. The “wilderness”
(desert) was also where God led Israel and formed a covenant marriage with them:
see Jeremiah
2:2ff; Deuteronomy
2:7;
32:10; Exodus
16. Through the desert experience, they ceased to be slaves and became free.
John the Baptist is God’s prophet; he belongs not to the period of promise
but to that of fulfilment: see Acts
1:22;
10:37.

Verse 3: Christians understood John the Baptist to fulfill Isaiah
40:3; Malachi
3:1;
4:5 (“Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible
day of the Lord comes”). For
John’s influence outside Christianity, see Acts
18:25;
19:1-7. There are still followers of John in Iraq.

Verse 3: “baptism”: At the time, per the
Mishnah, it was the practice to baptise converts to Judaism, but John’s
call was to Israelites. Ceremonial purification by water has deep biblical roots:
1 Samuel
7:6 says: “... they [the Israelites] gathered at Mizpah, and drew water
and poured it out before the Lord”.